#11: Our Bastard Soul.

The Filipinos In Search Of Themselves

I’m looking for University of the Philippines (UP) lawyers who will prepare and file a case for The Filipino People vs The Congress of the Philippines. The Bastards. Those who make it noblesse oblige to gleefully display their ilk as citizens of virtue and to censure most anybody except the loudmouths that are themselves.

Case: Gross incompetence? Corrupt ideas? Unpatriotic acts? Behavior inimical to the interests of the Filipino? I can’t decide, that’s why I need a lawyer, a Knight in Shining Armor.

You ask me: What bastard? The American Heritage Dictionary says a bastard is (A) an illegitimate child, (B) something that is of irregular, inferior, or dubious origin, (C) vulgar slang, a person, especially one who is held to be mean or disagreeable. So, who is my bastard? All of the above. But if I had to choose only one, it would be B, as revised by me: something or somebody that is of irregular, inferior, or dubious origin. But C is also good and would suffice: someone who can’t help but be mean or disagreeable. I used to be a C bastard myself, and then I grew up. I’m 67, for Christ’s sake.

Aside from me, let’s see if you recognize any historical bastard, Filipino, of the last century, the 1900s, before he disappears from view. This exercise is for your own good; then you’ll know what to do as a man of class, man of letters, man of media, or man on the street.

Oh, and yes, let me remind you that the word Filipino now has two different meanings. American Heritage defines it as one, a native or inhabitant of the Philippines, and two, the name for the Austronesian language that is based on Tagalog, draws its lexicon from other Philippine languages, and is the official language of the Philippines.

And that is where my favorite American Heritage is wrong, and the error is unforgivable. You see, the language Filipino today is a bastard, as it draws not its lexicon from other Philippine languages, but only from Tagalog. I would rate this Filipino mediocre, even execrable.

Therein lies a B story.

In 1987, the Cory Constitution, the one in force today, declared that Filipino, as national language, ‘shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages.’ 20 years of Senators and Representatives later, what have the A or B or C bastards of Congress done by way of formulating the guidelines to enrich the Filipino? They have insulted the Filipino by ignoring the Filipino.

It’s not true, as James Fallows had written, that the Philippines is a damaged culture (1987 November, Atlantic Monthly) – it’s worse. We are a hundred damaged cultures, Beloved. I blame it on Manila Imperialism (MI). The more popular owner of the acronym MI is of course the theory of multiple intelligences by Harvard Professor Howard Gardner, and now I’ll have to get into that too. Gardner theorizes that each one of us has nine intelligences: linguistic, musical, visual, logical-mathematical, personal, interpersonal, bodily kinesthetic, naturalistic, existential. Tell that to the (Philippine) Marines!

Considering that, if instead of their MI (Manila Imperialism), the lawmakers use their MI (multiple intelligences), then they would know that it is much, much better for the Filipino to be enriched by other languages (cultural influences) than keeping this language pure and tribalistic, a bastard. The delegates to the Constitutional Convention in the time of Cory Aquino were using their inherited MI (multiple intelligences) while the members of Congress since then have been using their legacy of MI (Manila Imperialism). Differing intelligences.

The bastard that is MI (Manila Imperialism) first reared its ugly head perhaps during the time of Manuel Luis Quezon. He was President of the Philippines when the 1935 Constitution was passed. One of the major provisions of the insular Quezon Constitution was for Congress ‘to take the necessary steps towards the development of a national language which is based on one of the existing native languages’ (Paz M Belvez, 2002, ncca.gov.ph). The next year, Commonwealth Act 184 created the Committee on National Language (CNL); those who became CNL members were Isidro Abad (Cebuano), Hadji Butu (Maranao-Maguindanao), Jaime C De Veyra (Hiligaynon), Santiago Fonacier (Ilocano), Zoilo Hilario (Pampango), Cecilio Lopez (Tagalog), Casimiro Perfecto (Bicolano), Felix Salas Rodriguez (Samarnon), Lope K Santos (Tagalog), Felimon Sotto (Cebuano), Jose Zulueta (Pangasinense). A bastard committee? No, a multiple intelligences body, with nine major languages represented. But their decision to recommend Tagalog as the sole basis of the national language is of dubious origin, as there were more native Cebuano speakers than Tagalog, and to force others to speak and think and write Tagalog is to force on them a culture other than their own; it is not mutual acceptance but assimilation; it is not cultural integration but cultural imperialism.

Early this morning, September 4, when I went out walking our two dogs EmEm and Chubby at the grassyard beside VEA School (offering grade school and high school), I overheard the children and the teacher practicing their pieces for some presentation or other. The subject was not roses but Filipino, and a child was reciting that Quezon is the Father of the National Language. He is, of our bastard language, our bastard soul, not that mandated by the clever Cory Constitution, not derived from richly endowed Philippine languages. President Cory Aquino is the Mother of the streetsmart National Language, one of cultural intelligences.

A common language is for communicating, cooperating with. If the Filipinos’ multiple languages were transformed as their multiple intelligences into one essential national language, it would be the people’s authentic soul even as their cultural vitalities animate them. Then they can become a truly great nation, a creative country if ever there was one.

To force our lawmakers to generate guidelines to develop Filipino as national language, I challenge the UP College of Law to sue those bastards in Congress so we can all stop suffering with our bastard soul.

Also published by American Chronicle in a slightly different version.
Copyright 2007 September 04 by Frank A Hilario.